What did you build today (Pictures) ?

[mfalkvidd]

@petewill I put a regular 120mm pc fan to blow the fumes sideways. Not perfect, but I think it is good enough for the short time I spend soldering.

[gohan]

@petewill is it battery powered? Can you share the code?

[sundberg84]

@petewill , @gohan I use the same as @mfalkvidd and its pretty much a PC fan with the wires to a 9v battery.... been thinking for a long time to make a more permanent sollution with a tubes from outside....

[mfalkvidd]

Today's test was to see if the regular reed switches can be closed by the magnetic field created by a 1A current.

I got an opportunity to try out my recently USB power meter and adjustable load.

Since I am not sure how the reed switch is mounted inside the sensor, I tried different orientations but nothing triggered the sensor. I also tried 2A but that wasn't enough either.

I need a non-invasive way to know if (how much) current is flowing in a DC cable. I was hoping the reed switch would be an easy way. My next hope is something like a SCT-013, unless someone has suggestions for other sensors. Requirements: 6-48V DC. 0.5-10A. I only need to know if the circuit is consuming >0.5A, no need for an exact measurement.

[gohan]

@mfalkvidd Hall sensor?

[mfalkvidd]

@gohan SCT-013 is a hall-based sensor I think. I was looking for more specific that just the type of sensor.

[Yveaux]

@mfalkvidd said in What did you build today (Pictures) ?:

SCT-013 is a hall-based sensor I think.

No, it's only a current transformer, and you possibly need (at least) a burden resistor to measure the current. Ofcourse we already have a thread on it ;-)

[mfalkvidd]

@yveaux yes I've read that thread and I would choose one of the sct-013 variants that already contains a burden resistor.

[NeverDie]

@mfalkvidd Didn't you play with electromagnets when you were a kid? At least try coiling the wire and maybe putting a metal core inside it. Use a lot of coils. The more the better. Then maybe your reed-type switch would have a chance of seeing enough magnetism to trigger it.

[gohan]

@neverdie wouldn't that choke the current passing through the coil? He said he needs 6-48V DC. 0.5-10A

[petewill]

@NeverDie The wires are there in case I need to upload a new bootloader. This sensor one of the first ones I have done where the Arduino isn't easily removable and I wanted to try to make it a little easier in case I had to change it.
I used an original Prusa I3 MK2 to do the printing. This is in ABS (because I didn't have any white PLA) so the print is a little rougher than if it was done with PLA.

@dbemowsk Thanks! No, my son didn't help with the case design (yet). It was from a previous project that I slightly modified. My son is 6 so he doesn't really have the attention span to do too much yet. I'm hoping that doing little parts of a project will be fun for him and eventually turn into full projects. :)

@mfalkvidd & @sundberg84 Thanks. I guess I need to rig something up if he is going to be helping me more often...

@gohan No, it's not battery powered. I didn't want to have to deal with changing batteries and there is a power outlet right near the location he wanted it. Here is the code:

/**
  The MySensors Arduino library handles the wireless radio link and protocol
  between your home built sensors/actuators and HA controller of choice.
  The sensors forms a self healing radio network with optional repeaters. Each
  repeater and gateway builds a routing tables in EEPROM which keeps track of the
  network topology allowing messages to be routed to nodes.

  Created by Henrik Ekblad <henrik.ekblad@mysensors.org>
  Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Sensnology AB
  Full contributor list: https://github.com/mysensors/Arduino/graphs/contributors

  Documentation: http://www.mysensors.org
  Support Forum: http://forum.mysensors.org

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
  version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.

*******************************

  REVISION HISTORY
  Version 1.0 - PeteWill

 
*/

#define SKETCH_NAME "Controller"
#define SKETCH_VERSION "1.0"

//Child (sensor) name that will be sent to gateway
#define CONTROLLER_CHILD_NAME "Room Control"

// Enable debug prints to serial monitor
#define MY_DEBUG //MySensors debug messages
#define LOCAL_DEBUG //Code specific debug messages

// Enable and select radio type attached
#define MY_RADIO_NRF24
//#define MY_RADIO_RFM69

#define MY_RF24_PA_LEVEL RF24_PA_HIGH //Options: RF24_PA_MIN, RF24_PA_LOW, RF24_PA_HIGH, RF24_PA_MAX
#define MY_RF24_CHANNEL  76
#define MY_NODE_ID 1  //Manually set the node ID here. Comment out to auto assign

#include <MySensors.h>
#include <Bounce2.h>

#define SCENE_CHILD_ID 0

#define BAUD_RATE 57600

#ifdef LOCAL_DEBUG
#define dbg(...)   Serial.print(__VA_ARGS__)
#define dbgln(...) Serial.println(__VA_ARGS__)
#else
#define dbg(x)
#define dbgln(x)
#endif

//Button Pins -- Arduino Digital I/O pin button is connected to
#define BLIND_UP_PIN 5
#define BLIND_STOP_PIN 4
#define BLIND_DOWN_PIN 3
#define LIGHT_ON_PIN 8
#define LIGHT_OFF_PIN 7
#define EXTRA_BUTTON_PIN 6
#define LED_PIN A0 //Pin for the LED transistor

#define FLASH_TIME 300 //Amount of time to flash the LED (in milliseconds)

#define ARRAY_SIZE(x) (sizeof(x)/sizeof(x[0]))

uint8_t ledOn = 0;
uint32_t ledMillis; //Used for tracking the LED flash time


//The sceneNum array corresponds with the buttonPins array so if a button pin is read, it will send the scene number to the gateway
int sceneNum[] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5};

uint8_t buttonPins[] = {
  BLIND_UP_PIN,
  BLIND_STOP_PIN,
  BLIND_DOWN_PIN,
  LIGHT_ON_PIN,
  LIGHT_OFF_PIN,
  EXTRA_BUTTON_PIN
};

//Debouncer is used for the buttons.  Need to have the same number as the total buttons.
Bounce debouncer[] = {
  Bounce(),
  Bounce(),
  Bounce(),
  Bounce(),
  Bounce(),
  Bounce()
};

//used to keep track of previous values contact sensor values
uint8_t buttonPrev[] = {1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1};

MyMessage scene(SCENE_CHILD_ID, V_SCENE_ON);

void before()
{
#ifdef LOCAL_DEBUG
  Serial.begin(BAUD_RATE);
#endif
}

void presentation()
{
  // Send the sketch version information to the gateway
  sendSketchInfo(SKETCH_NAME, SKETCH_VERSION);

  // Register all sensors to gw (they will be created as child devices)
  present(SCENE_CHILD_ID, S_SCENE_CONTROLLER, CONTROLLER_CHILD_NAME);
}

void setup() {
  //Set up Pins
  for (int i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(buttonPins); i++) {

    // Setup the pins
    pinMode(buttonPins[i], INPUT_PULLUP);

    // After setting up the button, setup debouncer
    debouncer[i].attach(buttonPins[i]);
    debouncer[i].interval(100);
    dbg(F("Set up contact Pin: "));
    dbgln(buttonPins[i]);
  }

  pinMode(LED_PIN, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  uint32_t currentMillis = millis();
  for (int i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(buttonPins); i++) {
    debouncer[i].update();
    // Get the update value
    uint8_t value = debouncer[i].read();
    if (value != buttonPrev[i]) {
      dbg(F("Value is for sensor #"));
      dbg(buttonPins[i]);
      dbg(F(" is "));
      dbgln(value);

      if (value == 0)
      {
        //Button is pressed send scene value
        send(scene.set(sceneNum[i]));

        ledOn = 1;
        ledMillis = currentMillis;
      }
      buttonPrev[i] = value;
    }
  }
  if (ledOn)
  {
    digitalWrite(LED_PIN, HIGH);

    if (currentMillis - ledMillis > FLASH_TIME)
    {
      ledOn = 0;
      digitalWrite(LED_PIN, LOW);
    }
  }
}

[mfalkvidd]

@neverdie said in What did you build today (Pictures) ?:

@mfalkvidd Didn't you play with electromagnets when you were a kid? At least try coiling the wire and maybe putting a metal core inside it. Use a lot of coils. The more the better. Then maybe your reed-type switch would have a chance of seeing enough magnetism to trigger it.

Yes, but that would unfortunately completely defeat my purpose. The device should be easy to install (I can't expect the end-user to coil their cable) and work with cables that are designed for >10A which means they will be too thick to coil. I understand that I did not mention all aspects of the use case in my post though so thanks anyway.

[Nca78]

@petewill said in What did you build today (Pictures) ?:

Question for you all... what are you doing (if anything) to vent the fumes from soldering? I haven't really been worried about it in the past but it makes me nervous with my son doing it with me.

I have a Hakko 493 clone, it has a carbon filter to absorb the smoke (or most of it) so it doesn't smell too much in the room when I need to solder for a long time and I can't open the windows. I don't have a link because I bought it in my local shop (it was cheaper than AliExpress + shipping), but you can easily find similar models or clones of the FA400 by searching "smoke absorber" on AliExpress.

[NeverDie]

@mfalkvidd
I had a similar requirement recently, which was determining when my CNC was finished. I decided to measure the current to decide that. It's 24VDC and might have a current as high as 6amp in a theoretical worst case, but as little as 0.5a when moving just one of the stepper motors. So, what I came up with was this, which I've tested and it works:

Basically, it uses six 5-watt 3 ohm resistors in parallel to create a 1/2-ohm sense resistor, which an arduino then measures the voltage drop across by just doing an analog read from an analog GPIO pin across a voltage divider. I don't really know your use-case, but maybe you could adapt it for your application? You can ignore the LoRa module, which in my case I use to send out a signal to a remote receiver inside my house that the CNC print job (in the garage) is done.

[sundberg84]

I made a MysX template for anyone who wants to create a MysX board to any EasyPCB in KiCadd.
Found here: https://github.com/sundberg84/HomeAutomation/tree/master/MysX template EasyPCB

[petewill]

@nca78 thanks! I'll check that out.

[NeverDie]

Today I made and assembled a board which instantiates the schematic I posted above two days ago on this thread:

Basically, it sends a wireless signal as soon as the CNC machine finishes its work.

[hek]

My old Yamaha YSP-1100 soundbar just decided to die.

After some searching I found the problematic capacitor. A 22uF 600V had dropped to 6uF....

!

[NeverDie]

@hek How did you find the faulty capacitor?

[hek]

@NeverDie, well, I started my trouble shooting with a lucky google search. For old devices like this, you are often not the first person experiencing a problem.